Industrial

By Josh Meredith, director of development, VanTrust Real Estate Sharing a 2,000-mile border, Mexico and the United States trade over $500 billion worth of goods and services each year, representing our country’s second-largest trade partnership. Impressively, over 20 percent of this exchange travels through the El Paso, Texas, port of entry, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. This movement has deemed the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) region as one of the most important industrial centers in North America for years. Although the El Paso/Juarez market has a history of extensive commercial activity, with more than 1,100 manufacturing operations alone, the region has remained under the radar, experiencing traditional, steady industrial growth for the past decade. However, with undeniable strategic advantages and 300-plus Fortune 1000 companies in the El Paso/Juarez region, the past couple of years have attracted an increasing number of developers looking to capitalize on the market’s industrial and distribution needs. Now, with record net absorption and a remarkably low vacancy rate, the “borderplex” is the market to watch, building a reputation as not only a competitive industrial center, but also as a driver of some of the most important global manufacturing trends. Competitive Edge With more …